


The Day After Next

by Ffwydriad



Category: Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi
Genre: Character Study, Drabble, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, M/M, Pre-Relationship, guess who just watched the last jedi?, i never learned how to make good titles and at this point i'm afraid to ask
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-21 20:48:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13151763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ffwydriad/pseuds/Ffwydriad
Summary: Rose wakes up.





	The Day After Next

She wakes up, and in an instant, Finn is at her side. They hug, tight, and she’s crying, as messy as always, but then again, so is he. It doesn’t even feel awkward, the fact that she’d given him a deathbed declaration of love, because they’re too caught up, crying and laughing, amazed that they’re alive, that the resistance is alive.

Everyone is congratulating her, and she’s not so sure why. She didn’t actually do anything, in the end, except survive. Then again, that’s more than most of the resistance has managed. Somehow, they’ve made it off the base, and they’re on a ship, and it isn’t as many people as she had hoped, but it’s half of the people that had made it to that base, about, and that’s enough.

There’s a girl, sitting to the side, looking on, someone who she doesn’t recognize from the halls of the resistance. It’s her ship, she thinks, and then she pauses, and realizes exactly who is leaning there, out of place and almost annoyed.

“I can’t believe it! You’re Rey! You’re a legend!” She shouts out, rushing forward. “Can you believe it, Finn, that’s – of course you know that’s Rey, you know her, I can’t believe I’m actually meeting you know, it’s such an honor, I’ve heard so much about you, you’re awesome.”

Rey – the actual Rey, their very own Jedi, who faced down Kylo Ren himself and gave him a run for his money – looks at her, shocked. “You’ve heard of me?” She asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Uh, who hasn’t? What you did on the Starkiller Base, that’s legend. Meeting you, and Finn, in the span of one day, I can’t believe it, this is just amazing. You’re a hero.”

Rey looks confused, but she doesn’t seem out of place anymore, and she doesn’t seem annoyed in the slightest, the hint of a smile toying at her lips.

“What,” Poe says, in a mock disappointed voice, “I don’t get any ramblings on my amazingness? I’m a hero too, you know.” Everyone chuckles at that, even Rey.

“Yeah, but I’ve seen you dead drunk, collapsed on the floor, complaining at the universe for making men, I quote, ‘too beautiful to even exist,’ so forgive me if I’m not floored by you, Mr. Bigshot Rebel Hero.” Sarcasm was always more Paige’s forte than hers, but the words come out smoothly, and everyone laughs even harder at that.

Rey’s laugh is sharp, and barking, and it fits her perfectly, somehow, and it’s one of the most beautiful sounds Rose has ever heard, after her mother’s singing, and the clunk of mechanisms settling in to their best place.

“Remind me never to take you drinking, if you’re just going to call me out like that,” Poe whines, wide smile across his face, and arm around Finn’s shoulder. “I stand by every word of it, however.”

The halls of the ship are filled with laughter, joyous and rowdy and just a little bit manic, but forgive them, because they’re on the edge of the longest, worst day of their lives.

“How did you hear about what happened?” Rey asks, thinking this over. She’s still leaning to the side, but she feels like she’s part of the room, now. “None of us were exactly around to tell about it, after all.”

“Ah, but you’re forgetting one member of the party,” Poe adds, and he dramatically gestures towards BB-8, who rolls back their head with pride. “BB-8 filled me in on the details, and I had to share the story of the resistance’s newest, most dashing heroes with the galaxy. And I may have embellished it a bit, but all for the sake of the resistance, of course.”

“Of course,” Kaydel adds, “for the sake of the resistance, we definitely needed to hear the loving description of Finn’s eyes, and face, and arms, and-“ Finn is doubled over laughing now, and so are quite a few other people.

“Can you blame me?” Poe asks, and that get’s a rowdy cry of ‘no’s from the group.

“Enough of that, no one cares about you, let’s hear from Rey! I don’t know about everyone else, but I haven’t heard about what happened with Skywalker yet.”

Rey weaves her tale, of heroes and villains, disappointment and hope, light and darkness, and epic lightsaber battle pf course, and the more she says, the more enraptured she becomes with the story and the telling of it, and the more enraptured the room becomes with her words, and the stronger that feeling grows in Rose's chest, the same one she felt when she'd stood on that cliff by Finn, mere hours but also lifetimes ago, a feeling she hadn't quite recognized then, but certainly does now.

She looks around the room, at all of the people, those she knows, and those she doesn't, and realizes there's no place in the universe she'd rather be. 


End file.
